Leimert Park resident Gerardo Gomez took it upon himself to combat xenophobia in Los Angeles on Saturday, organizing a march that doubled as both a protest against the political platform of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, and a celebration of the 10-year anniversary of La Gran Marcha.
One of several 2006 anti-immigration reform protests, La Gran Marcha packed 500,000 to 1.5 million Angelenos into the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Demonstrators united against the passage of the Sensenbrenner Bill, which introduced harsh restrictions on illegal immigration and on aiding undocumented immigrants.
A decade later, just 15 individuals congregated to march from Broadway and Olympic Boulevard to City Hall.
"We had no intention of surpassing or even coming close to one million," said Gomez, "Because it's grassroots it's a lot harder because there's no name on the flyer. If you care about this you'll come support it."
Saturday's march was a month in the making. After waiting to see if large immigrant rights groups would organize a march or protest, Gomez and a group of friends decided something had to be done and began planning the event at the end of February. They sent emails out to contacts they knew might be interested and passed out about fifty flyers to people on the street.
Gomez led the march, speaking into a microphone in both Spanish and English, explaining what the event symbolized.
"We're marching to let people know that in Los Angeles, love trumps hate," Gomez chanted.
Some protesters took to the microphone to share the reasons they marched both Saturday and 10 years ago. One woman performed a spoken word piece about what it feels like to be considered undocumented in the U.S.
"Mr. Trump, you say, 'Go back to your country.' I say, 'I've been in my country, where is yours?'" the woman performed, "Who's undocumented? Do you not see me? I am here."
Using smart phones, bystanders filmed and photographed the event as a protester dragged a Donald Trump piñata behind him. At the conclusion of the march, the figure was hung from a light post and battered until only its head remained hanging. No sweets fell to the ground.
"The reason the piñata's empty," Gomez said, "is because he has nothing to offer this country."
Annenberg Media